


a place we could escape sometime

by asarahworld



Series: zoms and poms [9]
Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24819412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asarahworld/pseuds/asarahworld
Summary: Zeddison go on a date after an out-of-town football game.
Relationships: Zed Necrodopoulus/Addison Wells
Series: zoms and poms [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1471007
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	a place we could escape sometime

**Author's Note:**

> Fritz, Chaz, and Zephyr all belong to unusual-ly. Thanks for filling up our sandboxes with fleshed out background characters. Hopefully I’ve done them justice.
> 
> usual disclaimer that I don't actually know anything about how American high schools work.

The football team had, now unsurprisingly, won the game. Coach had given them their choice of ordering pizzas in to their hotel rooms or taking the bus to a mid-scale diner across town. Surprisingly, the vote had split perfectly fifty-fifty. Even more surprisingly, the same vote had split the same way with the cheerleaders on the floor above. The coaches then allowed the teams to mingle, each supervising roughly one team. The cheerleaders’ coach stayed in (Zed suspected that they were used to having little to no real interactions with the squad, with the cheer captains running everything from tryouts to the championship routine) and Coach took everyone else out to the diner.

“Okay, if everyone who wants to come out isn’t ready by seven-thirty, then I’m sorry but you’re stuck with pizza. There’ll be no latecomers – we gotta stick together. This is a school event and we’re responsible for you kids,” Coach said. “Now, you all need to hit the showers, okay? I’m adding that to my list of rules for dinner. Shower and be ready by seven-thirty. That’s all I’m asking of you guys. Can you do that for me?”

Zed’s roommates for the trip were Chaz, Fritz, and Zephyr. Although they had tried to pass it off as a coincidence, everybody knew that they had been grouped together because they were the zombie students on the team. Chaz, the youngest of the group, had pounced on getting ready for dinner as soon as they had entered their room. The other three were too tired to be bothered, at least until Zephyr remembered that they were on a time limit and three people still needed to shower. When Chaz emerged from the bathroom, Zed and Fritz were in and out as quickly as they could.

“Come on, Zeph. We’re hitting the town, let’s go.” Zed shrugged a jacket over his maroon hoodie, knowing that Addison would steal at least one or the other before the night was over.

“You guys go. I’ll grab some pizza from Coach’s room,” Zephyr deflected, looking at the phone meaningfully.

“What? No way, come on you guys aren’t going to leave me alone all night, are you?” Chaz looked around the room. “Zed’s going to meet up with his girlfriend, Zephyr obviously wants the room to call his boyfriend, and Fritz…” Chaz perked up. “Hey, man, we could hang out.”

Zed opened the motel room door, stepping out into the crisp, cool evening air. He quickly crossed over to the room Addison was staying in and knocked.

“Hey, Zed,” Bree opened the door, smiling. “I think Addy’s just looking for her jacket.”

Zed grinned. “Hey. Awesome cheers tonight,” he winked.

“Yeah, they were pretty good. It’s definitely because of us that the team won,” Bree joked, her smile fading when Zed didn’t laugh. She turned to see that Addison had entered the main area/bedroom.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he said, slightly breathless. Addison ducked her head, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful, wearing a pale blue jumpsuit, damp hair tied back in a messy ponytail. He couldn’t help but notice that the sweater was fairly thin and smirked, knowing that she would end up stealing his jacket at some point during the night. “How about we skip out of here,” he whispered.

“Don’t you mean delicious?” Addison held out her hand and Zed took it, firmly clasping them together.

“There’s a diner across the street. Everyone’s either in the motel rooms or at the restaurant. What do you say we have a little date night?”

“I mean, we could get into so much trouble.” Addison grinned. “Let’s go.”

If Zed had had a fully functional human heart, it would have been thudding loudly in his chest. Sure, they still had to sneak out, but they were finally going on a proper date, somewhere where most people didn’t really know about zombies, where they would just be a couple of kids. As he held the door open for Addison, nobody really paid them any attention. There was no sharp spike from his Z-band as he entered the diner.

The little diner was mostly empty, aside from a man passed out in a corner booth. They chose a side both on the other side of the diner, Addison not releasing her hold on Zed as a waitress brought over some water and their menus.

“How are you guys doing tonight?” She placed the menus on the table, and continued: “house special is the classic burger n shake with Joey sauce. Crisp lettuce, red onions, and our secret Joey sauce. I’ll be back in a few minutes, holler if you need anything.” She left them to look at their menus, walking back into the kitchen.

Bells chimed as the front door opened again a few minutes later. The waitress was back; smiling, she seated the new arrivals, then stopped at the table. “How are you guys doing?”

“Good, thanks,” Zed smiled, looking over to his girlfriend.

“You kids see the football game this afternoon? That sure was something else all right, don’t think anyone’s seen Seabrook play like that for, I don’t know, twenty years? Heard they’ve got one of them mutants on the team now. Heck, nobody around here even knew there were mutants in Seabrook, can you believe it? Just twenty miles down the coast, a whole other community of mutants from back when the power plant went down.”

Zed’s stomach twisted.

“Now what can I get you kids tonight?”

Addison picked up her menu, scanning it. “Could I get the chicken salad...with garlic bread...and extra Parmesan?”

“And you?”

Zed pushed the knot in his stomach down and swallowed. “Yeah, uh, could I get the special? Uh, blue rare and could I get it with cheese?”

The waitress was staring at him, so he flashed her a smile. That was when he realized that Addison was also staring at him.

“Sir,” the waitress began uncertainly.

“Oh! And we just won the football game tonight, so if you could add a couple of double vanilla shakes to that, that would be amazing.”

The waitress nodded. “Double vanilla shakes.” She left with their order, and Zed turned back to the table.

“If they make money from people eating here, then why do they serve you a tiny loaf of bread before your dinner?” He sawed off another slice from the small bread, buttering it carefully before swallowing, nearly without chewing. He could feel Addison still staring. “What? Is it meant to just be decoration?”

Addison laughed at that. “What? No, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then what was it? That waitress was giving me vibes, but like, I don’t know.”

“You ordered a burger,” Addison whispered in a hush.

Zed stared at her blankly. “...yep.”

“Blue rare.”

“...yes?”

“Zed. Humans can’t eat beef that under-cooked. That’s why she was staring at you. We’re not in Seabrook, she doesn’t recognize you as a zombie. You’re just the weirdo who brought his girlfriend on a date to get food poisoning.”

“Can’t take me anywhere nice, can you?” Zed chuckled, grinning. “Think the chef will do it?” His question, though rhetorical, was answered by the momentary return of their waitress.

“Sir, unfortunately we will not be able to fill your order. When ground, beef must be fully cooked in order to avoid bacterial poisoning.” The waitress looked at Zed, clearly expecting him to order something else. When he said nothing, she continued: “we have a selection of meats that can be prepared rare for your enjoyment – steak, lamb, and beef are our most commonly rare dishes.”

While Zed understood that there was a liability issue that could result if the restaurant served under-cooked meat, he was also starting to crave the specificity of a minimally-cooked burger.

He decided to take a chance.

“I’m a zombie. One of the ‘mutants’ from Seabrook. Believe me when I say that this is definitely the way I prefer my burgers.” His wallet sincerely hoped that the establishment would listen to him and allow him to order the more inexpensive menu item.

The waitress stared at him. “I’ll get the manager for you, sir.” She left quite quickly.

The evening wasn’t going at all how Zed had hoped. In Seabrook, he was sometimes treated differently because he was a zombie, but things usually worked out. Integration was slowly becoming more commonplace, but outside of the community were issues that nobody had thought of before. Such as what would happen when a zombie tried ordering food that matched their zombie-fied preferences.

The manager would not allow him to order a rare burger. Zed understood, of course, and had resigned himself to ordering the burger to be cooked as little as the chef deemed safe when Addison stopped him.

“I know that the date was your idea and that you were going to cover it,” she started. Zed smiled sadly, knowing the gist of what she was going to say.

“Addy, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. You have special dietary needs and if a restaurant can accommodate a person with food allergies, I don’t see why this should be any different. But my dad gave me fifty dollars ‘in case of an emergency’, like that would ever happen, and I think this qualifies.” She turned to address the manager. “My boyfriend will be having a steak as rare as you can make it. As will I.”

“Addison, you don’t even like steak,” Zed interrupted. “You wanted the salad. At least have the steak cooked.” Addison looked back at Zed and he could see her relenting. “Come on, the salad has fresh strawberries, you love those. And I’m certain it was you who was disappointed with the garlic bread last week when the cafeteria served spaghetti.”

The waitress looked at them, clearly waiting to see if the couple had finished deciding. “Do you need a few more minutes?”

“No,” Addison shook her head as she turned back to the waitress. “One steak and one salad. A side of yam fries with the steak, and garlic bread with the salad. And two double vanilla shakes for dessert,” Addison ordered confidently.

“That should take about ten minutes.” The waitress finished jotting down the order and went to help another table.

“Addison,” but this it was Zed who was interrupted.

“Zed, it’s fine. Dinner’s on me. Well, technically it’s on my dad. But, hey, we’re out on a date. Let’s not waste it by arguing over something so trivial as who’s going to pay.”

Zed smiled, easily leaning across the table and kissing his girlfriend. “I can think of much better ways to pass the time,” he agreed, mumbling against her lips. He felt her smile, felt air hit his nose as she exhaled, felt her hand reach for his, fingers fumbling as they interlocked. “Gar gar ga za,” he whispered, pulling back slightly before re-initiating the kiss. Ten minutes had passed before they knew it and their waitress was back, clearing her throat as she placed their plates on the table.

“Enjoy your meal,” she said casually, giving them a look as she left.

“What was that supposed to mean?”

“Addison, it’s fine. That’s what people say when you’re in a restaurant. Or so I’ve heard.” Zed picked up his fork and speared one of Addison’s strawberries. “Now let’s have dinner, neither of us have eaten since before the game. Eat your salad before I steal all your strawberries,” he grinned, taking a bite from the one on his fork. Addison’s eyes narrowed playfully and accepted the proffered remainder of the stolen strawberry from her boyfriend.


End file.
